Iraq body count 'up to 55,000'

Between 21,000 and 55,000 people had died as a direct result of the war in Iraq, most of them Iraqi soldiers and civilians, according to a report released today.

Medact, an activist group of health professionals, said it had derived the figures - which it called "tentative" - by adding numbers it obtained from news reports and a website that estimates the number of Iraqi civilian deaths by tracking all those reported in the media.

The group cited the Iraqi Body Count website's estimate that between 7,757 and 9,565 Iraqi civilians had been killed between the war's start in March and October 20, the date the report went to press.

It added to that The Guardian newspaper's estimate that between 13,500 and 45,000 Iraqi soldiers died, probably closer to the lower number.

Also included in the total were 394 US and British soldiers reported dead by October 20, the report said.

An Associated Press survey in June found that at least 3,240 civilians died in Iraq in the month following the war's start on March 20, a shorter period than the Medact estimate.

That count, the first attempt to tally civilian deaths nationwide, was only fragmentary and the AP concluded that the complete number, if it is ever determined, would surely be significantly higher.

Medact is the British affiliate of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.

The British group describes itself as "an organisation of health professionals that exists to highlight and take action on the health consequences of war, poverty and environmental degradation".

The report, partly funded by the British charity Oxfam, said the war's impact on Iraqis' health and the country's environment had been enormous, although it was difficult to quantify.

"The health and environmental consequences of the war will be felt for many years to come," said June Crown, Medact's president.

The report, titled "Continuing Collateral Damage: The Health and Environmental Costs of War on Iraq 2003," said the war and subsequent instability worsened Iraqis' already poor health.

Damage to water and sanitation systems forced many to drink unclean water and contributed to the spread of disease, it said.

Loss of power meant vaccinations could not be kept in cold storage, so 210,000 infants had no access to immunisations, the report said, citing UNICEF.

Violence is continuing to cause death and injuries and limiting access to medical services, it added, citing The Lancet medical journal.

The report said it was impossible to quantify the health effects of the war, but that because so many of the factors that lead to ill health increased, it was safe to conclude that Iraqis' health had worsened.

It also said the psychological aftermath of war would be significant, noting that the coalition bombing campaign created enormous anxiety that would lead to an increase in mental disorders.

It also said suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and social and domestic violence were likely to increase.

The report also said the war had exacerbated Iraq's already serious environmental problems.

Power shortages meant sewage contamination had increased because pumps couldn't operate, and smoke from oil well fires and burning trenches caused air pollution and soil contamination, it said.

Bombing and the movement of huge numbers of military vehicles degraded ecosystems and unexploded ordnance continues to litter some areas, the report added, and looting of nuclear power plants led to radioactive contamination, it said.